10 Best Psycho Movies

The 10 best psycho movies are thrillers, horror movies, comedies and some of the most entertaining movies ever made. A director and writer can do a lot of interesting things with a movie based on a psycho or a movie that is set deep in a psychotic setting. When you watch the ten best psycho movies, be sure to pay close attention and get all of the plot elements you need to understand the story.

"Psycho" (1960) There are a lot of perfect elements that came together to make "Psycho" one of the best psycho movies of all time. The performance by Anthony Perkins as lonely motel owner Norman Bates became one of the most memorable psychological performances of all time. Director and writer Alfred Hitchcock had a way of taking even the most subtle plot element and making it completely psycho.

"Cape Fear" (1991) The original "Cape Fear" (1962) was disturbing, but it took Robert De Niro in the 1991 remake to put this story on the best psycho movies list. The intent of De Niro's character, Max Cady, is pretty evident from the opening of the movie, but the long and psychotic route he takes to get there is what makes the movie go.

"American Psycho" (2000) "American Psycho" is one of those movies you watch and cannot believe what comes next. It is a movie about powerful bankers and lawyers in New York that are oblivious to the psychotic killings of blue blood Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale). Bateman commits murder; he even kills people in his close circle of friends, but he continually gets away with it. Bateman is not the only psycho person in "American Psycho."

"Natural Born Killers" (1994) One of the things that makes "Natural Born Killers" an shoe-in for the list of ten best psycho movies is that it looks like stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis are really enjoying themselves. It is an uncomfortable tale about people that kill for fun and it is not a movie for the weak of heart.

"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) No matter how many times you see "A Clockwork Orange," you will never see everything this movie has to offer. As with most Stanley Kubrick movies, this requires several viewings just to understand the basic plot.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick was brilliant at creating confusion in his movies and that was on display in this entry into the list of ten best psycho movies. To this day, there is considerable debate as to what is going on in the ending of this movie. Kubrick insisted that the ending was improvised because the production had run out of money, but others look at the ending as a perfect psycho moment that can never be explained.

"Apocalypse Now" (1979) The stories that were told about the making of this psycho war thriller are almost as interesting as the movie itself. The disjointed and psychedelic nature of this Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece make it one of the ten best psycho movies ever made.

"Halloween" (1978) This breakthrough hit for director/writer John Carpenter showed his ability to create horror without ever showing the horror itself. The movie "Halloween" remains a classic because it is more a psycho-thriller than it is a horror movie.

"Jesus Christ Superstar" (1973) A group of actors head out to the desert and suddenly elaborate sets and pre-conceived dance numbers appear to tell the story of Jesus. The music in this movie has always been considered ground-breaking, but the visuals presented by the film are confusing and definitely psycho.

"The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) Even if you have never seen "The Silence of the Lambs," you have seen one of the many iconic images the movie has created. The controlled chaos created by Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) makes this movie a cerebral psycho thriller.